


echoes of the tripartite below

by apotheosizing



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Dreams, Gen, POV Second Person, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25120354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apotheosizing/pseuds/apotheosizing
Summary: You cannot shake the feeling that the gods of the zee gaze upon you when you visit Hunter's Keep.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	echoes of the tripartite below

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LookingForDroids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForDroids/gifts).



You are chatting amicably by the fireplace when Cynthia drops the mirror. It shatters; its frame of frosted glass so delicate it could well be ice does nothing to protect the mirror from the impact. She gasps an apology for her absentmindedness which you wave away with an offer to assist her in gathering the shards. The two of you wrap your hands in red cloth and set about your task. In the reflection of the pieces, you see your own face clear. Occasionally, you happen to catch sight of Cynthia in the shards. She looks different in every one.

* * *

_Your breath is fine as mist in your dreams. The cold is unnatural in the deep cavern of the Neath, forcing a shiver. You wander through endless chambers of raucous colour, light bouncing off the walls that curve at impossible angles. The walls of your dream are polished to a mirror's shine. In each room, you glance at your reflection as you pass. By the third glance you have difficulty recognizing the person you see there. You are brought to a halt when you step into a room of utter darkness. You cannot see your reflection. Who would you see?_

* * *

In the dead of night, you find Lucy lighting candles in the windows of the house. The flickering light casts shadows on her vibrant face as she explains that each night she transforms the house into a beacon for passing ships in the dark. You recall the piercing glow of Hunter's Keep on the night where you dragged yourself ashore in a feverish hunger that would have consumed you if you pushed on to London. She laughs in a soft relief at the story and insists you pick up a taper if you were obliged by her help. You do.

* * *

_You are woken to your dream by the calm lull of the zee beneath you. You gaze out on its vast expanse with an imperious gaze that illuminates the dark corners of the Neath. The part of you that burns with the light of the stars crystallizes into glittering jewels at your feet. The part of you that wandered the wilderness above roams the zee in a shell of black glass. Cities fall and waters rise and you endure and endure forever. Ships pour through the river of your blood to seek your blessings. Their bones litter the mud below._

* * *

A storm is blowing in from the zee. Her sisters chose, sensibly, to remain in the sheltering arms of the house but Phoebe stands on the dark sand of the beach with a smile. You watch from one of the house's many windows, her form warped by the torrential rains that beat against the pane but still visible in the gloam. She is shouting something that it drowned out by the calamity around her, running along the shoreline like she is a hurricane herself. You resist the impulse to run out into the storm and join her in her flight.

* * *

_You dream of the spires of castles plunging through the air like knives. Coiled above them, your bones lie half-drenched in dream. Of all these strange encounters, the true you who dreams feels truly that you could touch this other you that lairs here. You can barely think for the riot of rage that whirls through your corpse, animating it as much as life ever had. Fragments of what you were are will be pierce the islands below with a deafening thunderclap. Below, the rhyming-words of children float up to you like a tiny roar. You answer them in kind._

**Author's Note:**

> Fallen London is © 2015 and ™ Failbetter Games Limited: www.fallenlondon.com. This is an unofficial fan work.


End file.
